Conventionally, there is known a method of forming a resist film only on a periphery region of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “wafer”) in a semiconductor manufacturing process (see, for example Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 describes a processing method of forming a silicide layer at a central portion of a wafer. Also described is a method of coating a periphery region of the wafer with a resist film in order to suppress the silicide layer from being formed on the periphery region of the wafer when forming the silicide layer. In the method described in Patent Document 1, a resist film is formed by coating and drying a negative type resist liquid on an entire surface of the wafer. Then, an exposure process is performed on the resist film on the periphery region of the wafer, and then, a developing process is performed. Through the developing process, the resist film on the central portion of the wafer is dissolved, and an annular resist film is formed on the wafer.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2009-295637
Since the aforementioned method of forming the resist film involves many processes such as the coating process, the drying process, the exposure process and developing process of a resist liquid, etc., a throughput of the semiconductor manufacturing process may be deteriorated. To solve the problem, it may be considered to coat a positive type resist liquid only on the periphery region of the wafer while rotating the wafer. With this method, an annular resist film can be formed just by coating and drying the resist liquid. However, a thickness of the resist film may become non-uniform by being affected by a centrifugal force generated when the wafer is rotated. The resist film is required to have a high protective function and to be easily removable after used. To meet such conflicted requirements, a tolerance range of the thickness of the resist film is narrow. In this regard, if the thickness of the resist film becomes non-uniform, there is a concern that the thickness of the resist film may not fall within the tolerance range.